Growth dynamics of C60 thin films: Effect of molecular structure

The surface morphology and growth behavior of fullerene thin films have been studied by atomic force microscopy and height difference correlation function analysis. In contrast to the large growth exponents (β) previously reported for other organic semiconductor thin-film materials, a relatively small β value of 0.39±0.10 was determined. Simulations of (1+1)-dimensional surface lateral diffusion models indicate that the evolution of deep grain boundaries leads to a rapid increase in β. We suggest that the commonly observed large β values for organic thin films are due to their intrinsically anisotropic molecular structures and hence different stacking directions between crystallite domains.